Prince George, BC – BC’s Deputy Chief Forester has set new harvest levels for Haida Gwaii…

Jim Sutherland has set the annual allowable cut for two tree-farm licences and one timber supply area at 931-thousand cubic metres – that’s slightly higher than the 929-thousand recommended by the Haida Gwaii Management Council, because it applies to municipal areas not covered in the management council’s AAC.

As part of the process to come out of the Reconciliation Protocol signed in 2009, the management council worked with the provincial government to come up with the annual allowable cut back in April.

Sutherland says, "This is the first time the decision about how much commercial forest to harvest on the islands has been made with the participation of the Haida Gwaii Management Council."

He says, "It was a consensus driven process guided by Haida cultural values, ecosystem integrity and environmental facts."

Tree Farm Licence 58 is held by Teal Cedar Products Ltd and now has a cut level of 79-thousand cubic metres.  Taan Forest Inc. has an AAC of 340-thousand cubic metres on Tree Farm Licence 60. And Timber Supply Area 25 has an annual allowable cut of 512-thousand cubic metres.